2020 North Carolina Attorney General election

The 2020 North Carolina election for Attorney General was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the Attorney General of North Carolina, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

2020 North Carolina Attorney General election

← 2016 November 3, 2020 2024 →

Nominee Josh Stein Jim O'Neill Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,713,400 2,699,778 Percentage 50.13% 49.87%

County results Precinct results Stein:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%      80–90%      >90% O'Neill:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:      50%

Attorney General before election Josh Stein Democratic Elected Attorney General Josh Stein Democratic

Party primary elections were held on March 3, 2020.

Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, first elected in 2016, ran for re-election against Republican Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill.^[1] With a narrow margin separating Stein and O'Neill (0.26%), the Associated Press was finally able to call Stein the winner on November 17, 2020 (two weeks after Election Day).^[2] This also made this attorney general race the closest of the 2020 election cycle.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Josh Stein, incumbent attorney general^[3]

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Jim O'Neill, Forsyth County district attorney and candidate for North Carolina Attorney General in 2016^[4]

Eliminated in primary

• Sam Hayes, general counsel for the North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell^[5]
• Christine Mumma, executive director of the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence^[6]

Results

 

Results by county

  O'Neill

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

  Hayes

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%

  Mumma

•   30–40%
•   40–50%

Republican primary results^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jim O'Neill	338,567	46.55%
	Republican	Sam Hayes	226,453	31.14%
	Republican	Christine Mumma	162,301	22.31%
Total votes			727,321	100.00%

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report^[8]	Lean D	June 25, 2020

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Josh Stein (D)	Jim O'Neill (R)	Other	Undecided
East Carolina University	October 27–28, 2020	1,103 (LV)	± 3.4%	49%	42%	3%^[a]	6%
Meeting Street Insights (R) 2020-10-31 at the Wayback Machine	October 24–27, 2020	600 (LV)	± 4%	49%	44%	–	4%
East Carolina University	October 15–18, 2020	1,155 (LV)	± 3.4%	49%	44%	2%^[b]	5%
East Carolina University	October 2–4, 2020	1,232 (LV)	± 3.2%	43%	46%	2%^[c]	9%
Cardinal Point Analytics (R)	July 22–24, 2020	735 (LV)	± 3.6%	40%	45%	–	15%
Cardinal Point Analytics (R)	July 13–15, 2020	547 (LV)	± 4.2%	43%	43%	–	14%

Results

North Carolina Attorney General election, 2020^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Josh Stein (incumbent)	2,713,400	50.13%	-0.14%
	Republican	Jim O'Neill	2,699,778	49.87%	+0.14%
Total votes			5,413,178	100.00%	N/A
	Democratic hold

Notes

1. Did/would not vote with 3%
2. Would/did not vote with 2%
3. Would not vote with 2%

References

1. Friedman, Corey (November 9, 2016). . The Wilson Times. Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
2. WUNC
3. Bonner, Lynn; Thompson, Elizabeth (March 10, 2019). "Who's running in North Carolina's 2020 statewide races?". The News & Observer. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
4. Hewlett, Michael (February 8, 2019). "Forsyth DA Jim O'Neill announces run for N.C. attorney general. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in 2016". Winston-Salem Journal.
5. Fain, Travis (December 20, 2019). "Filing flurry fills NC ballots". WRAL. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
6. Specht, Paul (December 20, 2019). "NC Attorney General Stein gets challenge from innocence group leader". WRAL. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
7. "NC SBE Contest Results". er.ncsbe.gov. North Carolina Board of Elections. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
8. "An Updated Look at Handicapping the 2020 Attorney General Elections". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
9. "State Composite Abstract Report - Contest.pdf" (PDF). North Carolina State Board of Elections. Retrieved November 24, 2020.

External links

• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "North Carolina", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "North Carolina: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
• "League of Women Voters of North Carolina". (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• North Carolina at Ballotpedia

Official campaign websites

• Jim O'Neill (R) for Attorney General
• Josh Stein (D) for Attorney General